Yesterday, we reported on an alleged Android 4.3 Jelly Bean ROM originally posted by SamMobile. Since then, we have – in usual style – been digging away, looking for goodies. In the midst of that search, Ron noticed something – the Roboto files in the ROM were up to 30% bigger than the versions found in 4.2.2.

My first guess as to what would cause a file size difference was the presence of additional glyphs. When looking at the new files closely, there appeared to be 15 extra glyphs. But something even better became apparent.

Roboto got a facelift! What follows is my attempt to catalogue (in a coherent fashion) some of the changes in the new Roboto. Grab a snack.

What's Different

The short answer is "a lot." These differences aren't immediately noticeable to the naked eye, especially if you're viewing the font on a 4.7" screen, but there are a lot of them, and they combine to make Roboto just a bit more refined, balanced, and dynamic than before. Don't worry though, it's still the humanist sans serif made for high resolution screens you've come to know and love. If anything, its "friendly and open curves" have been enhanced, while maintaining overall logic and consistency of style. For the sake of brevity, we'll take a look at two weights that best demonstrate the changes – Regular and Thin.

Roboto Regular

First, we'll look at Roboto Regular. The regular weight is what you'll see most often, and its changes are more indicative of the stylistic evolution of Roboto as a whole, where the Thin weight shows several issues with the way the font was built that are now fixed. But we'll get to that.

I could do a full run-down of all the 1000+ glyphs in the set, but we'll just take a look at a few notables.

Red: New, Black: Old

Many of the adjustments are very subtle – minor changes to curves in lowercase letters, a few width adjustments, the legs of the capital "A" moving outward just a bit, the arms of the capital "E" and "F" growing a tiny bit longer (while maintaining staggered lengths), etc.

A few interesting things are happening though, too. For one thing, the (what I like to call) boot heels on the lowercase "b" and "d" (as well as on the top of "p" and "q") have straightened out a little. Also of note: the bowls on the lowercase letters (which Matias Duarte lovingly refers to as "racetrack" shapes) have been trimmed ever so slightly.

The bowl of the uppercase "B" meanwhile has calmed down significantly, giving it a little more balance, where before its voluptuous curve gave it a certain bottom-heaviness.

Of course, the letters aren't the only thing that got updated. Punctuation got some changes too. The most obvious change is in the commas. Roboto's old commas were all about the "geometric" skeleton of Roboto past (not to say geometry is gone, it's just … softer). It was made purely of angles. The new comma has a really nice curve, and looks great in high resolution.

So much smoother!

Other punctuation marks didn't undergo such a dramatic shift, but were subject to the tightening of curves and narrowing of widths seen elsewhere.

Roboto Thin

The changes in Roboto Thin are an even more interesting story. Those of you who follow me on Google+ might have caught a post I did several days ago about Roboto Thin.

Basically, I was playing around with the font in Illustrator, and noticed that up close, there were a lot of problems. Many of them had to do with curves overlapping stems resulting in extra anchors and weird little bumps. The primary culprits were the lowercase "u" and "n" along with "p," "d," and "m". In the end, I concluded this was probably due to the way the thin weight was created – if it was simply a transformation of the regular weight, it would be easy for these issues to crop up. Here's the quick graphic I originally posted:

Out of curiosity, I looked at the Thin file from the Android 4.3 build and, what do you know, someone already fixed all these issues!

ahh

The issues with the aforementioned letters all seem to have been cleared up. Strangely, one thing wasn't fixed – the capital "M". Here's a before and after.

Before, the peaks were uneven – the left higher than the right. Now, the right is higher than the left, but just slightly. Just like its Regular weight counterpart, the Thin "M" also has a more subtle, refined set of angles inside its peaks.

With most of its pesky issues resolved, Thin has become a much better option, though – at the time of writing – it's an extremely rare sight on devices. With the rise of higher-resolution displays, though, this may change.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the stylistic changes to Roboto seem to point to an effort to make the typeface more balanced. Rhythm, as the specimen book explains, is extremely important to Roboto's form, and bringing on more pleasing curves and widths that at least balance out the individual glyphs contributes to that goal.

As much as the typeface strove for a mix between humanism and geometry, it's achieved that goal on a new level with the 4.3 refinements. Things are more subtle but more organized. Softer but more logical. And, best of all, the Thin weight is less burdened by weird errors.

Though Roboto initially faced some significant tension when it debuted with Ice Cream Sandwich, it's getting better and better. It's great to see that the typeface is still being tweaked, worked on, and improved.

Love it or hate it, if you like typography, Roboto is interesting. The fact that changes are still being made makes it a great font to look at up close, and I for one can't wait to see how it looks in a new version of Android. Want the font for yourself? Hit one of the mirrors below.

You could be talking about the AndroidPolice site (which is what I thought you were talking about) or the Google+ site.

And if you're talking about the latter, I still have no idea what you're on about.

Derek B

I agree, I thought he was talking about the AP website also.

mesmorino

Now I'm confused- AP has an android app? Or a share button? It's a +1 button, if I remember right.

In any case I get the feeling you're either being facetious or deliberately obtuse. You know the google+ website? Right, on posts, they have a share button. This button is stupid, and does not look like it's supposed to (in my opinion).

In addition, on the google+ android app, the share button looks like the the one on the website (which as i said, is stupid). This is an even more egregious error, because here we have a google app ignoring the android share button.

I don't know how to make it any clearer. Go to the google+ website. look for the share button under a post, any post. Then open the app. look for the share button under a post, any post. That share button is what i'm talking about

What, if you don't mind, makes the share button look bad? The arrow looks a little off center because of its curved tail, but otherwise it looks fine.

As for the Android app, I think it makes sense in this context. The app, like the website, is based on tiles that contain posts or activities. Keeping the tiles' experience consistent across platforms, in my opinion, is not a bad thing.

mesmorino

It's not bad (or even stupid, that was just hyperbole), it's just... Odd, different, weird. It is somewhat reminiscent of the iphone share button, which doesn't do it any favours, but otherwise, my main beef with it is that it doesn't look like *any* other share button in Google's ecosystem/suite of apps.

As for the app, I actually appreciate its conformity with the website, except that I already dislike the website's share button, so... yeah. It's a choice between being consistent with other apps (like YouTube, for example), or the google+ website.

Overall, I'd rather have it be consistent with the apps but of course, that's just me.

spacehunt

> it doesn't look like *any* other share button in Google's ecosystem/suite of apps

The action performed by share button inside Google+ is not the Android share intent though. It specifically shares content inside Google+, not to other Android apps.

Mobile Phones Fan

> What, if you don't mind, makes the share button look bad?

Point of order.

He didn't say the button looks 'bad'; he called it 'stupid' and suggested it 'does not look like its supposed to'...whatever that means. And these insightful comments stand apart from his lack of specificity as to the website in question.

This, from a guy who accuses others of being 'obtuse'.

.

mesmorino

Not only have I clarified which website I was talking about ( it's obviousness notwithstanding), I have not been obtuse anywhere in this conversation. If you think I have, point it out.

Incidentally, I have also explained my dislike of the share button.

Mobile Phones Fan

> I have not been obtuse anywhere in this conversation. If you think I have, point it out.

Seriously?

Dude, if you don't see your initial remarks -- the wording of which (later 'explanations' aside) you've defended repeatedly and argumentatively -- as unclear *per se*...well, then I'd suggest there is simply no explaining it to you. Not even with lots of arrows or other visual aids. :-)
.

mesmorino

I didn't think initial comment was unclear- Like i said to Artem in my reply, given the context what other website/app could I have been talking about? And when he explained where the mixup was, I clarified it immediately. Unintentional ambiguity is not being obtuse.

I have indeed repeatedly defended the wording, but I have not done so argumentatively. And even if I have, that is *still* not being obtuse so to reiterate, I have not been obtuse anywhere in this conversation.

Liam Higgins

I think he meant because it doesn't use the same share icon as the android system... Which doesn't seem very stupid to me as they're two different products...

Simon Belmont

Um. Isn't this technically unrelated to Android 4.3?

The Google+ app can be updated independently of the OS. I don't see what all the hubbub is here.

mesmorino

There isn't one. I was just pointing something out, Artem misunderstood, and I'm attempting to clarify.

He could be yanking my chain though.

TY

You are right, though next time please learn not to take exaggeration literally...

iamnotfan

Man I still didn't get you , it's k since your talking to AP staff

Martim

On the subject of noticing stuff, has anyone here also noticed the insane way the scrollbar behaves on Android? The size of the scrollbar grows and shrinks depending on the current item's length (e.g. a comment on a G+ post). This happens in any place where the auto-hiding scrollbar shows up, and it bugs me to no end...

Has Ron noticed this too?

Crispin Swickard

This has bugged me to know end forever. It has to be something they did intentionally for whatever reason, but I wish the would kill it with fire.

mrflipnote

Scrolling is indeed still a pain in the ass on Android. I've noticed this scroll-bar thing before, too, and once I'd seen it the first time, I started noticing everywhere every time (I even searched for ways to entirely turn off the scroll-bar). But, as said, scrolling is a pain in the ass on Android, I don't know whether you've been aboard the Android train long enough to have witnessed the horror of scrolling that is Gingerbread...either way, believe me, they've come a long way, even despite this bug.

I'd believe Googlers will fix the M soon. Cause you know they are peeping around AP for this kinds of issues.

Adit Sharda

The Roboto Thin font has been one of my favourites ever since I've been using Android 4.2. I normally replace the Regular file with the Thin Font to make the screen look better. Thank God there are more people who prefer it that way! :D

I for one have started forcing Roboto on pretty much every website I visit on a daily basis (Twitter, YouTube, Facebook etc.) and almost every new website design I work on. It's an outstanding font and is my favourite for the time being. Good to see them improve on it and good on you guys for covering this for us typefreaks.

akshay7394

Do you know how to do this with Chrome?
I used to do it with every version of Firefox I've ever used but in Chrome I just can't seem to find the right option (or extension.)

To change fonts? I thought it could only change appearances; what style do you use?

Gandalf_Teh_Gray

How you do it on firefox?
I had to switch from Chrome and theme my FF to look like Chrome.

akshay7394

Just go into the options and under 'content' there's the option to force fonts :)

Adrian O.

Wow, they (fu**ing finally) fixed the issues with "Ț" & "ț" characters for romanian language. I don't have to modify the fonts myself. It took them ... well, since roboto was released. Thanks for the new fonts.

Outstanding write-up. You guys are find every miniscule detail, which I absolutely love.

Looks like Android 4.3, as predicted, will be mostly more refinement of the existing Jelly Bean platform behind the scenes. Nothing wrong with that, and it gives us bigger changes to look forward to with KLP in the fall.

nawa

I hope they've fixed curillic letter Щ too, it has no tail in present version of Roboto Light.

I haven't had this much fun reading about fonts since the blog analyses leading up to Dan Rather's firing!

James Jun

Definitely a step into the right direction. More humanistic is the right direction. Whether it stands up to the general-purpose legacy Helvetica has amassed remains to be seen (and probably won't be). iOS7's Helvetica Neue Ultra Light is way too thin too be legible; too many typographers and designers are complaining about it. I wish we had more typographers on board for Android to speed things up in refining it even more

That being said, Avenir is one smexy UI font.

Shawn Cheever

Great post. It's amazing how much attention to detail is going on (on Google's part and AP!).

Philip Kahn

I can't wait until they add proper subpixel font hinting to this gorgeous font. Get rid of the jaggies.

GraveUypo

nice job spotting those changes, but... at the risk of sounding like a jerk, i literally could not care less.

brucetonbryfield

This made very interesting reading. I absolutely love the Robot font - so much better than Droid Sans! I have actually used it in a client project, as it is available via Google fonts.

* The 'straight' quotes ('") and the closing 'curly' quotes (’”) no longer look identical. (It's possible to enter both from the Android keyboard, but they're visually indistinguishable! Which is really annoying when you're dealing with sites that completely mangle curly quotes.)

* The asterisk is no longer centered. Maybe it's just me, but that always looked incredibly awkward. (Of course, YMMV.)